EFFECTS OF AGING TREATMENT ON MICROSTRUCTURE AND STRENGTH OF WELD HEAT AFFECTED ZONE OF 6N01-T5 ALUMINUM ALLOY

Effects of the aging treatments on the microstructure and strength of heat affected zone(HAZ) in the welds of a age-hardened Al-Mg-Si alloy, 5N01-T5, were investigated. The base metal aging treatments before MIG welding were conducted at 423K to 473K for 28.8ks Post weld heat treatment(PWHT) to recover the HAZ strength was performed at 448K for 28.8ks. Microstructure observations, hardness measurements and tensile tests were conducted to study properties of the MIG weld joints. The position of the softest region in HAZ where the hardness insufficiently recovered after natural aging and PWHT was at a distance of approximately 15mm from the center of the fusion zone. Hardness of the softest regions after natural aging and PWHT decreased with increase in the base metal aging temperature. TEM observation clarified that strengthening ${\beta}$"(Mg$_2$Si) precipitates and coarse ${\beta}$′ precipitates affected the hardnes of HAZ. Incomplete recover of hardness in HAZ after PWHT was caused by the precipitating of non-hardening ${\beta}$′ phase during the weld thermal cycle. In order to examine the effects of weldheat input and welding speed, the laser weld joints were also investigated and compared with the MIG weld ones. Laser welding had the narrower width of the softened regions in HAZ compared with MIG welding. The hardness of the softest regions of the laser welds after PWHT was higher than that of the MIG welds. Quantitative relations between hardness of the softest region and base metal aging temperature were obtained for both welding processes. Accordingly, the equations to estimate the strength of the weld joints after PWHT with varying base metal temperatures were proposed for MIG welding and laser welding.